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Tiger (Family)
"Charge and never look back" Otora family motto The Tiger is one of the glorious old families of the Empire, one of the Five Generals of the Mikado who was put in charge with pacifying the Nittan territories and make sure no threats were to come up from the Southern jungle. The Tigress, as she was known at the time, was a wild woman of massive stature, with hair orange like the fur of its eponymous animal. While she had the reputation of being brash and careless in battle, as soon as she was outside of battle, she was often compared to Lord Hayabusa in terms of strategic planning and plotting, and even though she was sidelined in the conquest early due to her new responsability, she still gave her opinion on strategic matters until her death using Onmyou communication and a constant stream of letters to the Mikado, most of which have been conserved. The Tiger family has been split between the two sons of the Tigress, naming one branch "Great Tiger" and the other "Small Tiger, leading to the Otora and Kotora families that have been serving the Empire ever since. When one talks of the Tiger, they usually mean the Otora as they are the official lords of Nittan and those that keep the forts near the jungle manned and armed, a fact some of the Kotora resent. The Tiger is rich and powerful and maintain an important presence in most of the Empire, even outside of their own territory, especially in the military domain. The Otora family The leaders of the Tiger family, the Otora have been tasked by the Mikado to defend the southern border and man the forts to make sure the Faceless terrors do not attack the fledgling empire. Given a thousand soldiers from the elite of the Sons of Heaven and full control of the local militias, Otora Un Satochi created a network of forts and encampments throughout the south of Nittan, where he put his own sons and most loyal retainers in charge. Around those forts, towns sprung up and became the original political strongholds of the Tiger. Those ancestral forts, along with the ingrained military life of the young Otora, does favour a military career for almost all of the Tiger sons and daughters. Some do end up joining the Magistrature, especially those who have had the opportunity to travel a bit more in their youth or who's parents are already in the business of law enforcement, but very few ever attempt to pass the Bureaucrat Exams or attempt any other form of career. Nittan culture is fully permeated into the Tiger's way of life, with most of the young ones training in both military careers and philosophical debates. The whole "a healthy body in a healthy mind" is quite popular amongst Sons of Heaven in general, but being educated in this philosophy from a young age makes the young Tiger samurais quite smart and physically fit, a balance they try to maintain throughout their lives. The Kotora family Kotora Trois Kazuki was a skilled rider and brilliant scout commander and because of this, his mother named him as commander of the cavalry forces under her care before actually giving the order of making sure the Jungle frontier would be guarded at all time. Unlike his brother, Kotora never settled in one place, keeping a strong cavalry force and training his men into specializing in their ranger role. Having never really settled down, the Kotora never really "got territory" of their own, and most of the Kotora have learned to live in their cousin's encampment or forts when they were not on missions. This nomadic lifestyle is not very useful to build strong familial bonds, as most soldiers of the Kotora simply leave their children at various forts where they get educated along with their distant cousins. Almost all of the Kotoras end up in a military career, serving along the border with the other Tiger Rangers, but a small group always end up serving the Magistrature, where their old skills at tracking and dedication to their task is well liked. Unlike the Otora, a few of the young Kotora that want to actually settled down end up going for the Bureaucrat Exam. The Kotora have learned to adapt ot the Nittan culture, but usually a bit less than the Otora, having kept a lot of their old Sons of Heaven traditions, but the education they receive is usually deeply rooted in the Nittan tradition. Living on the road most of their lives, the Kotora are usually more careful with their ressources then their cousins, usually not wasting anything. Lordship and territory It is obvious to everyone that all of the south is essentially Tiger territory. While there are other families and lords that run parts of Nittan, but all of them pay tribute (mostly in men, military materials and food) to one of the two Tiger families. If you limit your scope to only the lands directly under Otora and Kotora, what little there is for the Small Tiger, it is still an impressive stretch of territory ranging from the ocean all the way to the border of the Plains. It is, however, not one of the richer lands of the Empire. Barley and olives are about the only things that grow easily in the area, with a large chunk of territory close to the Faceless Jungle being almost useless due to the possibility of horde raids and the poor quality of the land itself. Granite and stone quarries dot the land and make up for the mass of the trade of the Tiger lands and work of the peasantry. A few of the fortified cities of the Tiger have been starting to develop some basic industries, mainly in regards to transformation of olives into oil and modernization of forges to make it more or less on par with northern Yunjin steel. While Faceless raids are rarer than they were at the beginning of the Empire, it is always a threat in this region. This, combined with other threats that can sneak through the Jungle, bandits and dangerous spirits that always reside in Nittan, forces the Tiger to have a mighty military force. Of course, the Tiger raison d'être is literally to guard the border, therefore this does not bother them at all. Each fort of the Tiger is manned by an impressive array of samurais, ashigaru and Nittan auxillaries, and if combined, this force would match 4 to 5 Imperial legions, but the fact they are always on high alert, constantly training and often in combat would probably make them a match for any other fighting force in the Empire. The Tiger demands obedience and dedication to your work. While maybe not the most fervent followers of the bureaucracy and magistracy, they required tribute to feed and arm their men, and able-bodied citizens to serve in their auxilliaries or ashigaru forces. This often takes precedence to tax collection and can sometime put them at odd with the Imperial Court, but also with the locals that view those demands as sometimes being excessive. Culture is not as important for the Tiger as for, let's say, the Peregrine Falcon, but most cities in the region have fully funded agoras, where plays and debates are performed at regular intervals. It is important to note that while most Tigers are fervent devotees of the Path of Spirits due to their contact with the local spirits of Nittan, they still have a good understanding of the Way of the Stars and finance the Onmyouji more than most other families of their status and wealth. Vassal families Important vassal families #The Rivals and enemies The Tiger's biggest opponent is usually the Imperial government itself. Having very few members of their family in the bureaucracy or in high ranking positions in the Imperial Legion, they are most often overlooked in regards to budgets or trade agreements. Territory under Tiger control is often repurposed to other tasks or gifted to influencial Nittan lords who are not always friendly to the Tiger. Of course, if the Tiger decides to reclaim territory by way of arms, they usually outmatch any opposition, so nobody really wants to challenge them in this arena. Important members of the family #Early 21st century * Category:Great Families Category:Nittan